Report: Bill Clinton: Obama risks looking like ‘total fool’ on Syria

Former President Clinton told Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) that he supports McCain’s calls for more forceful action in Syria and warned that President Obama risks looking like a “total fool” if he plays it safe.

Clinton made the remarks Tuesday night during a closed-press event for the McCain Institute for International Leadership in New York. The comments come as the administration debates whether to take more forceful action against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad by arming vetted rebel groups or setting up a no-fly zone.

“Some people say, ‘Okay, see what a big mess it is. Stay out!’ I think that’s a big mistake,” Clinton told McCain, according to Politico, which first reported the conversation. “I agree with you about this.”

{mosads}Clinton pointed to his own decisions to act in concert with NATO against the Serbs in 1999 during the Kosovo War. His wife, Hillary Clinton, argued in favor of arming vetted rebel groups last summer when she was Obama’s secretary of State.

The White House is currently considering all options as it prepares for a last-ditch attempt at peace talks scheduled for next month in Geneva. 

The administration has been unusually public about its internal deliberations this week, suggesting it wants to put pressure on the Assad regime to cease its offensive and come to the table.

“Clearly, the choice of weapons that he has engaged in across the board challenge anybody’s values and standards of human behavior,” Kerry said. “And we’re going to have to make judgments for ourselves about how we can help the opposition to be able to deal with that.”

The administration on Wednesday lifted sanctions on rebel-controlled parts of the country.

Please send tips and comments to Julian Pecquet: jpecquet@digital-staging.thehill.com

Follow us on Twitter: @TheHillGlobal and @JPecquetTheHill